The State Department announced Wednesday that it will reject the proposed $7 billion expansion of the Keystone pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada’s tar sands to refineries in Texas.

“The Department does not have sufficient time to obtain the information necessary to assess whether the project, in its current state, is in the national interest,” it said in a statement.

The administration had delayed its decision on the pipeline last November, citing concern over the pipeline’s route through Nebraska’s sensitive Sand Hills region. The State Department said it would undertake an “in-depth assessment of potential alternative routes.”

Congress responded to that delay by giving the White House until Feb. 21 to make a decision on the project.

“The knock on Barack Obama from many quarters has been that he’s too conciliatory,” 350.org activist Bill McKibben, who helped lead the protests, wrote in a response to early reports of the pending rejection. “But here, in the face of a naked political threat from Big Oil to exact ‘huge political consequences,’ he’s stood up strong. This is a victory for Americans who testified in record numbers.”

Pipeline operator TransCanada said it plans to re-apply for a permit for the project, which it claims will be key for U.S. job creation and energy security. “This outcome is one of the scenarios we anticipated,” Russ Girling, TransCanada’s president and chief executive officer, said in an online statement. “While we are disappointed, TransCanada remains fully committed to the construction of Keystone XL. Plans are already underway on a number of fronts to largely maintain the construction schedule of the project.”

Comments

The sad thing is that Canada is now going to make a pipeline to the west coast and ship all that oil to china.

Why do we protest oil from north america, and not the oil we get from Iran? Lets help create job’s here for noth americans. A pipeline won’t destroy the environment.

tracy

Florida

January 21, 2012, 1:18 am

Thank God this behemoth of destruction has been tabled&it should STAY there.If one would only take the time to do your homework,you will find out the Keystone in NO WAY will benefits us American consumers.It benefits Transcanada&other well heeled oil industry execs,yet we get to take all the risk.
One,jist ONE minor spill from it&the gargantuan aquifer that provdes fresh water to millions is GONE.for GOOD.It won’t give us any more oil than we have now,as the majority is to be EXPORTED elsewhere,not the US.And the process used to extract this oil requires 5times the fresh water that other alternative fuel sources do not.That only makes it MORE of a pollutant to water&air supplies WE in the US get to deal with,we get ALL the Risk and none of the reward.
.And as for the jobs it supposedly will create?They are ALL temporary,NOT permanent.I am all for finding new ways to reduce our depency on foreign oil,but THIS,Oh This Keystone was well named after it’s predecessors who did nothing but make more of a mess,create chaos&confusion&totally screw it all up in the end,The Keystone Cops.
All this info is right there for you to read,they aren’t hiding it per se,they are just trying to bury it far enough down because they know most Americans are too lazy to put forth the effort.Keystone will only end up making a disaster we won’t be able to clean up&that disaster doesn’t soley mean an enviromental one,as the impact will sprial outwards&take whole cities&towns,viable farmland for crops,all the businesses near it will leave,because once you poison the only source of drinkable water,people,towns,cities&business CANNOT function,and are forced to leave.
Then comes the inevitable price tag on all that relocating,damages to land,businesses as well as the plethora of people getting sick from it.That will run into the WELL upper stratosphere of BILLIONS&the ticker will never stop,more money will ALWAYS have to be paid out&then comes an abandoned pipeline that has to be removed after it al happens.MORE Billions flushed away.So all that will be accomplished if they build this?Disaster of Epic proportions,not a simple what”if”,but a guaranteed WHEN,and all that’ll be left is millions upon millions of toxic,forever polluted swaths of land no one can use for a millineum or more.KILL the KEYSTONE BEFORE IT KILLS US!

John

Michigan

January 20, 2012, 4:43 am

They are both morons, in my opinion.

Devon Dunham

United States

January 18, 2012, 9:04 pm

Hey Robert,

If you don’t remember George Bush did that.

Robert Mollenauer Jr

Redlands, CA

January 18, 2012, 6:27 pm

The moron POTUS gave $360 (or 380) BILLION to AIG, which won’t pay it back; gave $1 TRILLION in a stimulus package, but can’t allow a $7 Billion pipeline, and this jerk wants re-elected? That’s just SICK!

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